A New Mom Had Her Baby Taken Away Because She Is Disabled

State officials said her disability would make her an unfit parent.

Less than two days after giving birth, a woman had her child taken away from her and placed in foster care. The reason? State officials blamed her disability.

But last month, the federal government issued a new report saying that Massachusetts officials shouldn't have taken away the child, according to the Associated Press. The report accuses the state of discriminating against the mother because she is disabled.

Most Popular

The woman, who is only known as the pseudonym "Sara Gordon," was 19 when she had her daughter, "Dana," in 2012. But officials from the state Department of Children and Families noticed that Sara had a "mild intellectual disability" that made it difficult for her to read and learn new things, like how to change a diaper. The officials took Dana away and placed her in foster care, where she remains today.

Sara's parents had already planned on caring for little Dana, and Sara's mother, Kim, had quit her job in order to look after her granddaughter full-time. Sara has been visiting her daughter as often as state officials will let her, and takes parenting classes in hopes she will reunite with her child. Sara's parents want to be named legal guardians.

Two years later, federal authorities released a 26-page report on the case, calling for Massachusetts to pay damages to the family and give her support so she can have a chance of regaining custody. The report accuses the state of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, because it denied Sara the opportunity to get social services and support to raise her child.

According to The Daily Beast, this is the first time the act has been interpreted to protect parents with disabilities. Disabled parents often have to face legal and institutional hurdles to keep their children, whether the disability is mental or physical; for example, non-disabled parents usually have the edge in divorce cases when it comes to custody.

The Daily Beast also notes that Sara never intended to be the sole caretaker of her daughter, and she also has never injured or harmed Dana in any way. And though Sara's learning style requires repetition, officials didn't give her the time to learn parenting skills at her own pace. Plus, state officials rejected the advice of their own review board, which argued that Sara should get her daughter back.

Though the state still argues it did the right thing, Sara's family has new hope for little Dana.

"[Sara] has been resilient. She's been disappointed at nearly every turn by the court and the department," her lawyer, Mark Watkins, told the Associated Press. "But she has never stopped trying. She never quit. A lesser person would have given up by now."